Level Four Continued: Claustrophobia

"What would you do, hypothetically speaking?" Camdyn came out muffled, as he hid his mouth and nose behind the collar of his shirt, with intentions to close out the smell. Seeing it lead me to copy his tactic, but it didn't help much in my case. I didn't expect it to mask something that bad, but a girl can pray.

"What would we do hypothetically speaking in regards to what?" I groaned when he talked. Everything was messing with the wrong nerves because of what we were all forced to breathe in. This crap was worse than a landfill, and a pile of trash actually sounded good in comparison to this that I'd sleep in it for a week over putting up with whatever was behind this door.

"Let's say you were playing a super gruesome murderous game, and love is said to be floating up in the air. Hypothetically speaking, and just hypothetically you know, like it couldn't get more hypothetical than how hypothetical this is, what would you do? You think, hypothetically, of course, you'd go through with that love and put everything at risk? Take the dang game itself like it's not serious? Like hypothetically?" Camdyn built on my question, sarcastically, and I started to see what he was on about. He wasn't looking at anyone, so it didn't appear that he was trying to frame someone for doing wrong, but that's exactly what he was doing. All of us but Shyrene had enough context to know that.

The entire time Blake and I were talking, I had no idea where Camdyn ended up, and it must've turned out he was nearby the entire time. He overheard everything, and considered it a waste of time we'd talk so lightly when dark things were going on. In some ways, I think he's right. Talking that out was a mistake, but it happened and I don't necessarily regret it. If we didn't, there's things that I wouldn't know, and for Blake, he obviously has so much more to live for. Maybe that'll make him try harder to get through all of this.

Squinting with the teeny amount of help the flickering light gave, I found the only pair of bright blue eyes among us, crying out to me for help. He would glance to his right where I knew Shyrene was last standing every so often, and I could tell he was letting me know this wasn't the time to spill his personal life. I bit my tongue, feeling the pain out of it, to get myself to think about how I would respond to this challenge Camdyn was tossing to us at full speed.

"Hypothetically, I'd make sure everything is kept in its place, and that the right things are prioritized. Hypothetically, nobody is in danger because of it, right? So hypothetically, I think we're all fine, and hypothetically, you've never been a man with a halo either," I mocked him, using his approach that he thought was so sly and intelligent, right back at him. I wasn't going to say he was right out loud. That'd give him the confidence to speed things along for Blake and Shyrene, and that's not our business. I wanted him to feel threatened right back that he'd lock his lips, and whether it's because of it that he did keep quiet, the point is he did.

"Just start the damn game. Let's get it done," Blake firmly commanded, speaking up. As he did, Shyrene moved from the spot she'd been standing in for so long, holding up the key a bit higher. She was stumped with what would be illogical talking in her perspective, but she didn't ask a single question; she probably didn't even know what she should be asking, and we all observed her put the key in the key hole.

Blake rustled the hair at the base of his neck, already feeling the need to apologize. As I saw in him, that's a kind of person he is; one that can't do something wrong or if he did, one that can't live with it. Even when he was the other part of him, he had people to please on that side of things too. That's how life works. You can't please everyone, even if you play for both sides of the competition.

"Before you open the door, I'm sorry guys, for getting worked up. I didn't mean to do that to any of you. I guess I'm feeling a little off," he jabbered on in apology, "but for all of us, especially with the toll the game has on Ell, I want to contribute to helping you pass the level, no matter what happens after we start, so I hope we can all calm down as much as we can get."

You wouldn't think that that could amount to doing much, but because of it, I did feel a little more at ease, despite the bad smell and the nerves I had rightful reason to feel, and I don't think I could be more thankful.

"On three then, guys?" I asked them. Barely able to see them, in the atmosphere I could feel their flurry of nods.

1...

2...

3...

"That paper said this was a puzzle, right? That doesn't mean that—." I widened my eyes in disbelief, and they began tearing up with one thing piling up onto another. Inside the door was a small room, about the typical closet-size, filled from floor to ceiling with parts of the human body. Toes, feet, thighs, legs, shoulders, hands, fingers — they were each separated from each other, scattered about, oozing out with much more blood than what got onto Camdyn's hand, like the crowd of an entire indie band was murdered gradually, one by one, since it's those on the bottom that stunk the most.

"That we have to put their bodies back together? Yeah, that's probably what it means," Camdyn finished off what I couldn't, and by his confirmation I did have to turn a corner to ralph. The disgust of a situation that's so inhumane to have to even think about, let alone see it in front of your eye, was one thing in itself, but the feeling that ties not only your stomach in knots, but your heart and your lungs too, I couldn't bear it. This man I've known all my life being so casual about it for the most part, set me off too, like a fire alarm, or a tea kettle left on the stove too long. "Then let's get with it, people. We're not gonna get to the next level automatically." He added. My insides twisted again.

"Please, stop talking like this is normal!" I finally yelled, unable to keep it in. From every side of us the wall came in about a foot or so, like the letter promised, and in doing that, it didn't make a sound, but I could tell our perimeter was teasing squishing us alive. I had enough noise going inside of me anyway, the small loss in perimeter for an overall big room, triggering some memories from my childhood — ones that I never wanted to resurface.

"What do you want from me, Soren?" My mom shouted at my blood father. I barely knew the man at the time, being under two years old, since my mom had moved out and raised me alone for a good while before she married her husband, and this 'Soren' could be an intruder for as much as I knew. Maybe he was. Again, for as much as I knew, he wasn't supposed to be here. He could be anywhere — anywhere but here.

I tugged at the sheets hanging down the side of the bed, to better cover my face. I was beneath the mattress, hiding there as they argued. Mom put me under here when she saw him stumbling ferociously up the stairs to our front door, and specifically instructed that I don't get out.

I listened as carefully as I could to that, but that didn't mean it wasn't uncomfortable. I felt like I was carrying the weight of the bed, and I didn't have much room in any direction, even for my little body to stay under here without any whimper or complaint. It was painful keeping so still in such a small space and I was relying on Mom to say it was safe to come out soon to get me through.

"Mars, stay with us, okay? Breathe in and out to calm down, then if you have to hold it again to join us, go ahead. Do whatever you need to do," Camdyn instructed. He had already begun picking at some of the pieces, but with as little grip as he had to between his thumb and index finger, sorting them out to match. I was battling the thought that my claustrophobic habits came to me for associating it with where I'd hide when my parents would fight. It's like I blamed the enclosed space, instead of them, but I couldn't keep pondering on that. Not right now.

Shyrene and Blake were both walking around aimlessly, as if they were on the fence of what side they should be on. Their motives of either side of the people they were were mixing, since my emotion didn't peak in the wrong way for very long. They must've been in the process of changing teams, but didn't quite make it, and while they're still on my side and I can win their cooperation, I'm gonna need to cherish not creating more enemies.

"Okay. I'm all here," I breathed out, controlling myself. I kneeled down to the floor at the piles Camdyn had been working at, and tried to consider it as an ordinary puzzle I'd do on a random Wednesday night with the family. It was basically impossible, but it did help somewhat. I decided on building from the head down to the feet, the neck placed as it was supposed to, and the shoulders taking up their proper position as well.

"You've got ahold of yourself well, Ell. Let us finish this off. Start on the next one," Shyrene called out, sitting herself down next to me. She winced at the smell and the fact she had to look at these victims, and Blake couldn't help but to do the same, but each of them got to work as they said they would. It was reassuring to see them on our side, and out of that mini soothe, I obeyed them, heading onto another pile that Camdyn had created beside it.

He was done with that piling-system by now, and was working on his own as one of our jobs, rather quickly. As dark as it sounded, it made me rather competitive, and it got stuff done more smoothly than I could've thought. There had to be about twenty disoriented bodies in that closet, and the four of us were well passed ten coming back together, nearing fifteen. It became something I had to get done, and I expected it as that. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Who would've known this is what your life would come to," I whispered to myself, and I don't know if saying it made me want to laugh or cry.

Heading to the next victim from the small room, like I have been, I took notice of her bad-ass vibe clothing with one snap of limited brightness, and the nail polish on her toes, pink in color, so vivid and popping that in the darkness I still couldn't miss it. It reminded me of my older sister, who lived secretly with my blood father since we were kids that I didn't know we were related. I met her as my therapist, and the next thing I know she's serving time in prison with Camdyn and my dad, with my dad's influence to blame for all of it. I can't help but think how far they would've gotten with their nasty crimes if she didn't illegally give them patient information.

I despise her. Our family was already broken enough, and she had to somehow make it worse, when I didn't know it could get worse than it was. I hate her, so much, and if I thought about it long enough, I could dig up dirt on her from the beginning of time. Dirt that I haven't dug up before. Dirt that I did forget about. Does going through these levels dig that up for me?

"You know exactly what I need from you, Esther." Soren yelled, his voice so loud it could go right through you. From underneath the mattress, my body chilled, like it was stuck right into a freezer and forgotten about for days.

"I don't, I really don't," Mom responded boldly, sitting down on a foldable chair that she took away from leaning against the wall. All I could see being huddled up on the floor this low, was her legs, and the slippers she wore in the house loose on her feet. "And even if I did, what makes you think that I'm entitled to doing what you need?"

A loud slap, and a gasp of pain out of her is all that came for a good while. The silence was tense, full of hatred, and escalated the situation much more than it was supposed to. "Esther, give me back my money or give me the girl. She's my child as much as she is yours, and she's being raised by the money from my bank account, so who is it that's actually raising her?"

"The court gave me that money idiot! I don't have a job, I don't have family, I don't have anything or anyone to rely on! I'm doing this by myself. You're making good money so why does it bother you so much? Don't you want your daughter to live?" Tears stung my eyes as Mom continued to fight for me. At a young age, I didn't understand it in its entirety, but I did know that going with a man so angry every time I've seen him, is far from something I'd want to happen, even I was here in hiding, laying on my own arm that was going so extremely numb.

"It's unfair, Es! I have our firstborn at our house. I take care of her. She's my responsibility. We're even, we're one and one, according to the court. Why would you get money from me? That makes everything unbalanced! All that proves is that I have the better environment to raise her myself."

"You wanted Saturn aborted, Soren. I'm not going to give her to you if you were expecting her dead a long time ago. If you were expecting her not to exist. In what world is that a better environment?" She paused, awaiting him to respond, but nothing came out of him. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Nowhere! There's no world that would suit you to be a good father, period! I'm certain Elha would be better off if I had her too. So get out! Get out of my house! You got more than you deserve the way it is!"

"Mars! Ellie! Ell? What happened to you? Everything was going so well!" Camdyn screamed, and by the tone of it, it was obvious he's been shouting for a while before it that I wasn't able to catch onto and that wasn't enough to awaken me. I noticed the door where the bodies were being kept was shut, unlike before, and inside there was knocking from definitely more than one person, fighting to get out.

By how Camdyn was panting, I knew that he had fought the several Shyrenes and Blakes into that room when I blacked out, and seeing that none of them were joining the dead already all over the floor, or bolting to attack us, I guessed they had to be in there. The wall had moved in quite a bit since I was drowning in the past, and the room was a lot smaller than I could assume it could get, but I still had space to move around and such, so it wasn't time to make an issue out of it yet.

Feeling that I was safe enough for the time being, and not even uneasy that he had killed off any of them I decided I'd have to answer, because there's no telling how long I'd keep this feeling. "How's Elha doing? My sister, I mean, how is she? Weren't you both put into the same prison?"

"Well that's kinda random," he observed out of my question, but as he did, I simply pointed to the body I was beside, realizing that not only were the toe nails painted the way Elha liked to paint them, but her face was strikingly similar too. Camdyn's gaze fell upon where my finger was leading him to, and on instinct I was wrapped in this gigantic hug of his. "She's okay. They separate the men and the women so I don't see her all the time, but she's doing fine. We meet outside sometimes and for lunch and stuff, so don't worry about her. This is just an evil tactic of the game to get to you. It's not real."

I filled my lungs with air, and set it free, in hopes it'd be enough to dry the flood in my eyes. I knew Camdyn couldn't see me very well, but I assumed a movement could give it away. "I'm stupid to care about how she's doing after everything she's done to me."

"You're not stupid, Mars," he said, and by the way he delivered it, I could be certain he believed it too. His hand found mine blindly, as if by a miracle, and he held it kindly, like it wasn't meant to be messed around with, but taken care of. "She's your sister and you didn't really get the chance to get to know her. Even the good side of her, because you didn't grow up with your lives colliding that way. Those can be the ones you care about the most."

There was silence, and nothing moved, besides the wall coming in closer to devour us, now consistent. I thought I was crazy to get this vibe that he was deep in thought, but when he spoke again, I saw that my instinct was right. "Tell you what. How about we try bending the rules of this level, and getting out of it?"

"What?"

"There's this source of light up on the top of the wall, and if it's moving in closer to us, that means there's an area open that we can jump into if we climb up it, escape the tension, and give you time to calm down. Then we'll pass the level."

"You're insane."

He chuckled. "That's me. I get that a lot."

I shook my head at his plan. It was a bit of a reach to mess with the creators of this game and the ones that put this together, when we already knew what they were capable of. "We can't just leave though. If the wall keeps coming in to this area, and we leave behind Shyrene and Blake, then we lose all our lives at once."

"True, but we're not going to leave them behind. We're going to use them as adrenaline to boost us up the wall. If you notice, the wall has sharp edges pointing out so that if we don't die being squished, we'd die being stabbed, but we can use that for the better, as steps or something while the walls are still separated. With the rush of them in enemy mode, we'll get up fast, and by time you get to the top you can take a breather, so by time they get to you they've recovered."

"I don't know about this," I had told him, but before I knew it I was counting down seconds until he'd open up the door to Shyrene and Blake in opposing mode, from the spot he'd said to stand at as a 'head-start', and afterward I was climbing up the sword-looking things poking out of the wall, scared that they wouldn't carry my weight. Camdyn was right at my heels, and behind him was the 3 and 5 of Shyrene and Blake.

I did get to the top, and I was shocked to see that there was quite the view from up here. It was brighter the further you went up, and from this height there was basically everything out there, not one thing that you couldn't get the taste of. Lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, oceans; it was a view zoomed out enough that it was all there, but close enough to notice the uniqueness of the beauty in creation. I was in awe, and it's the best I've felt all day.

"What gave you this idea, duo?" Blake asked, laughing, and from that genuine expression I knew right away that he was on our side again. The other four of him were balancing on the wall quietly giggling at what he had said. It's like having a whole squad of brothers that never fight. Must be nice.

"Wherever it is, I can't say it's dumb. I'm impressed," the first of Shyrene joked with the topic she must've overheard on her way up, and the second one followed after her.

"Camdyn has a brain, apparently. He's only choosing to use it now," I stuck my tongue out at him, now that I had the light to know that it would get across, and he faked a punch back at me like he was pretending to be genuinely angry. That is, until the foundation we were on began to shake, as it crashed into each other from every direction.

"Wait. Shyrene. Where's your third?" I said, wishing I didn't have to, and as we looked over the ledge we could see one of her bodies, stabbed straight into the heart, blood leaking down from her mouth. It hurt me in every way to have to see that, not just because we lost a life we didn't have to lose in contribution to helping us through this game, but because seeing so much blood was never a preference. Because of my pain, the survivors of the two were beginning to twitch, an indication that they could be near to switching sides once more.

"We have to go," Camdyn said, noticing the same. He forced my hands over my eyes, as he was guiding me down the other side of the wall, and the others were still enough on our side to know to keep their distance in what could be happening to them, expecting the worst. "It's okay. It's alright. We got out, and we'll get to the end of all of this. Shyrene and Blake will get to the end too."

"I know," I bit my lip to wither out its attempt to quiver. "I'm okay."

LEVEL FOUR COMPLETED! CONGRATULATIONS!

LIVES REMAINING, SEVEN

LEVEL FIVE LOADING